Shaking hands with God!

Covenant is a thing of the past with most people. In the world I grew up in I heard men repeatedly say to each other about other men, "His word is his bond!" Sometimes they were talking about themselves and would say, "My word is my bond!" It was an age of trust. If men shook hands on anything, that sealed the deal! As a small boy I can remember seeing men shake on something and it facinated me. It was so real to me that it made me want people to say that about me, "his word is his bond", and I still do!

The "bond" referred to a security that was put up by one or both of the men making it more profitable to keep your word than to renege on it. Bonds are still used today in real estate deals (escrow), and even car deals! Non-refundable down payments. It is a real shame that men have to be "bribed" to keep their word but it is true about many men. I love to brag on the few people I can say about them that "If he/she said it, that's the way he/she is convinced it really is!" Now I can't always say "..that is the way it is" because someone else may have been dishonest with them. so I am glad to say they are convinced that is it. It brags on their honesty even if their source isn't honest.

This "word being bond" proved that a person's word was more valuable than money or things. In those days a man would not chance losing the veracity of his word over a dishonest deal or backing out on a promise.

True covenant says, "I will keep this agreement at the cost of death if necessary." Now God made covenant several times with man. With Noah the "seal", or proof of a man's involvement in the covenant was the rainbow, with Abraham it was the visible circumcision of the foreskin, with the New Testament believer it is the invisible circumcision of the heart! Now it gets serious and it involves the life of the person rather than a forced involuntary removal of the foreskin of a child (8 days old), who cannot make the decision himself, in order to fulfill a religious ritual. Anyone can do that, but it takes reality to LIVE it!

No matter how righteous or wicked you were under the Abrahamic covenant, it was no problem to bare the circumcision, but in Christ if you are required to show your 'mark', the heart... you have to say, "Look at my life!" WHOA!!

Water baptism is a part of this 'heart seal' as we are symbolically buried with Him and rise from the watery "grave" to do away with the old man and begin to demonstrate the heart circumcision through the life of this new man we have become! Abraham walked in the promises of God for a long time but at 99 years old he entered the bond of the covenant. What would happen if we understood the full ramification of our 'shaking hands" with God in baptism and the new birth. Our promise to be His representatives in full power in the earth!

Jesus in the flesh! Without seeming to be wierd or a religious nut, I want to agree with the great apostle Paul and remind you that you have ALREADY entered into covenant, shook hands with God, and circumcised the foreskin of your heart (male and female), and taken the mark of citizenship in His Kingdom.

We have a lot to do, don't we?

jack